Carl JunctionMO
A town of 8,484, settled in 1878.
Is Carl Junction a good place to live?
Carl Junction is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 106th of 247 graded towns in Missouri, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $83K. It also does better than most on schools: its schools outperform 69% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $258K, 4.2 years of the Joplin metro’s $62K median household income. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 72% of U.S. towns.
91% of working residents leave Carl Junction for work
Where Carl Junction’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Carl Junction grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Carl Junction is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Carl Junction: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Carl Junction, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Carl Junction.
With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Carl Junction’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave Carl Junction for work: only 9% work in town. Since 2013, Carl Junction has added 186 jobs, to 1,108 in 2023. 8.4% of Carl Junction residents live below the poverty line, where Missouri’s towns sit at 14% and U.S. towns at 9.6%.
| Carl Junction | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 8.4% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $83,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.9% | 9% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For schools, Carl Junction earns a B+
Its public schools are run by the Carl Junction R-I school district. Three of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Carl Junction High School, with 924 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Junction IntermediateLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–6 | Grades 4–6 | 769 | B |
| Carl Junction High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 924 | A |
| Carl Junction Primary 2-3Top results in townGrades 2–3 | Grades 2–3 | 490 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
In Carl Junction, a typical July afternoon runs hotter than in the typical Missouri or U.S. town
Carl Junction’s July high is 90°F, above both Missouri’s towns (88°F) and U.S. towns (85°F). Carl Junction has chilly winters and warm summers.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Carl Junction faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 66% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Carl Junction.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Residents of Carl Junction are healthier than 58% of U.S. towns
Carl Junction beats the Missouri average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 10% of adults worry about having enough food in Carl Junction.
| Carl Junction | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 15% | 14% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 22% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Carl Junction | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11% | 15.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 13.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Briarbrook Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Carl Junction reports less crime per resident than 53% of U.S. towns
At 17.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 68% of Missouri’s graded towns.
The property crime rate in Carl Junction is 4.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Carl Junction | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.7 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
For cost of living, Carl Junction earns a C+
The typical Carl Junction home is worth about $258,000, up 1.8% in a year, close to the Missouri typical home. Carl Junction’s median rent is $1,307 a month.
| Carl Junction | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 77% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,307 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Carl Junction
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Carl Junction
About 6 of every 100 Carl Junction residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Missouri.
About Carl Junction
City in Missouri, United States
Carl Junction is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,143 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 896 ft
- ZIP code
- 64834
- Area code
- 417
Carl Junction’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Carl Junction.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Junction | #106 | B− | C+ | B− | B+ | B |
| Airport Drive | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Airport Drive isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Carl Junction with a neighbor →
Questions about Carl Junction
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Carl Junction, MO a good place to live?
Carl Junction grades B− overall, better than 54% of U.S. towns and #106 of 247 in Missouri. It grades B for health, B− for safety and B+ for schools.
Is Carl Junction, MO expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.